ana mendieta
Ana Mendieta’s works are ethereal combinations of body, nature and the relationships that we have with the Earth. She has created many feminist pieces that further relate to womenand their connection with the Earth and others.
One of the most poignant and feminist art pieces that I came across in my research was Ana Mendieta’s Untitled (Rape Scene) which was a response to a rape case that occurred in the Iowan university campus she attended. According to the Tate it was a:
Response to a brutal and highly publicized rape and murder of a nursing student, Sara Ann Otten, by another student in March 1973. The following month Mendieta invited her fellow students to her apartment where, through a door left purposefully ajar, they found her in the position recorded in this photograph, which recreated the scene as reported in the press. Some time later, Mendieta recalled that her audience ‘all sat down, and started talking about it. I didn’t move. I stayed in position about an hour. It really jolted them.’ ”
In this piece, Mendieta was making a social commentary that was rare for the time. It was a feminist piece in the sense that it brought to light the constant threat that many women and men face, although women often report it more. In fact, 1 in 3 women around the world will face some type of abuse. As in much of her work, the audience responses was extremely crucial in the success of her performances. In this instance, she placed herself in the victim’s shoes and experienced the polarization that a rape victim typically undergoes. The exhibit at the Nova Southeastern University Art Museum exhibit titled Covered in Time and History: The Films of Ana Mendieta which opened on February 28th, 2016, are a rare look into what went on behind the scenes of some of the most well-known series by Mendieta. She is an important artist in my research of women, gender and photography in art history.
Mendieta setting up for some of her performances that she would later photograph. She was seen pouring blood on her body, placing blood onto the sidewalk of a street and became an observer of pedestrians and their reactions, and used blood as a medium of writing. In action, I think her pieces become heightened and gives a more complex and multidimensional look at the purpose and what she meant her audiences to see. In this way, we become more aware of how she approaches using blood. This insight is something that has not been seen by audiences. In addition, it leaves the audiences with more questions. Why did she choose blood, if it is in fact, blood? Could it be red paint? Would she achieved a different reaction if it were red paint? Personally, I am placed in a situation where I am almost thirty years removed from the day that she has died, but her small, nude body in the moment radiates a sense of strength and indestructibility. Seeing her in motion reminds us that long ago, she was a powerful force to be reckoned with who was a Latin American artist constantly challenging herself and the world around her. Her works are still resonant with the art community interested in how connections with humans and earth have changed throughout society.
One video that stood out to me was one that she was not in. She placed a large amount of blood in what looked like a puddle in the corner of a street. It was filmed inside a car and the setting seemed like a city neighborhood with people of all ages. Mendieta shot the people around her and their reactions to the blood. Many of them did not even look down at the sidewalk, others simply glanced and walked away while some people did doubletakes and one woman even poked her umbrella at it. Are these passerbyers asking the same questions I was in the films with blood on her body? Were they, too, wondering if what they were seeing is blood or red paint? Is the audience the same as the people still viewing her work today? Another video about her buried on the earth is part of her Silueta series. This series parallels her journeys to Mexico and the the Caribbean country of Cuba, where she was born. While most of her adulthood was spent in Iwoa, this series was her connection to the earth where she returned. This also has traces of indigenous beliefs of Caribbean culture where one is a part of their surroundings and spiritually attached to the land. Especially evident is the female
attachment as the mother earth, the woman’s womb and the caretaking.
While I have seen many still photographs of the films on display, Sweating Blood was one film that gave me an appreciation of her work that I had not seen before. For instance, in this film blood is seeping out of the top of her head, as if she is sweating blood. This slow, gradual process of blood coming out of her head is unlike anything I have seen and adds a new dimension into the amount of work she puts in. Finally, one black and white photograph titled Itiba Cahubaba (Esculturas Rupestres) is an example of the relationship that she has with the earth. While her work is often discussed as though she is an artist using photography, this photograph is an instance of her making something to be seen for years to come. This is reminiscent of a shell, something inherently of “Since Ms. Mendieta's death, her older sister, Raquelin Mendieta, has been the keeper of her legacy, and it was through her research that many of the new films came to light. In an interview this week from her home in Whittier, Calif., Ms. Mendieta, 69, who is also an artist, spoke about her sister's early love of film and about the effort to bring her work behind the camera back into the world.
Her sister said:
“That was part of her personality. Nothing that she did ever surprised me. She was
always very dramatic, even as a child and liked to push the envelope, to give people a
start, to shock them a little bit. It was who she was and she enjoyed it very much. And she
laughed about it sometimes when people got freaked out.”
Her sense of playfulness and mystery was a large part of her success and intrigue for
audiences. However, this was heightened after her death when she was only 36 years old. The
mystery behind this also added to her infamous status as an artist. Unfortunately, this ‘suicide’ of
her, though it has often been contested as murder by her artist husband Carl Andre, is similar to
so many other artists who have died young, especially like Francesca Woodman.
Works Cited
Kennedy, R. (2016, Feb 05). New work from ana mendieta, 30 years after her death.New York Times
One of the most poignant and feminist art pieces that I came across in my research was Ana Mendieta’s Untitled (Rape Scene) which was a response to a rape case that occurred in the Iowan university campus she attended. According to the Tate it was a:
Response to a brutal and highly publicized rape and murder of a nursing student, Sara Ann Otten, by another student in March 1973. The following month Mendieta invited her fellow students to her apartment where, through a door left purposefully ajar, they found her in the position recorded in this photograph, which recreated the scene as reported in the press. Some time later, Mendieta recalled that her audience ‘all sat down, and started talking about it. I didn’t move. I stayed in position about an hour. It really jolted them.’ ”
In this piece, Mendieta was making a social commentary that was rare for the time. It was a feminist piece in the sense that it brought to light the constant threat that many women and men face, although women often report it more. In fact, 1 in 3 women around the world will face some type of abuse. As in much of her work, the audience responses was extremely crucial in the success of her performances. In this instance, she placed herself in the victim’s shoes and experienced the polarization that a rape victim typically undergoes. The exhibit at the Nova Southeastern University Art Museum exhibit titled Covered in Time and History: The Films of Ana Mendieta which opened on February 28th, 2016, are a rare look into what went on behind the scenes of some of the most well-known series by Mendieta. She is an important artist in my research of women, gender and photography in art history.
Mendieta setting up for some of her performances that she would later photograph. She was seen pouring blood on her body, placing blood onto the sidewalk of a street and became an observer of pedestrians and their reactions, and used blood as a medium of writing. In action, I think her pieces become heightened and gives a more complex and multidimensional look at the purpose and what she meant her audiences to see. In this way, we become more aware of how she approaches using blood. This insight is something that has not been seen by audiences. In addition, it leaves the audiences with more questions. Why did she choose blood, if it is in fact, blood? Could it be red paint? Would she achieved a different reaction if it were red paint? Personally, I am placed in a situation where I am almost thirty years removed from the day that she has died, but her small, nude body in the moment radiates a sense of strength and indestructibility. Seeing her in motion reminds us that long ago, she was a powerful force to be reckoned with who was a Latin American artist constantly challenging herself and the world around her. Her works are still resonant with the art community interested in how connections with humans and earth have changed throughout society.
One video that stood out to me was one that she was not in. She placed a large amount of blood in what looked like a puddle in the corner of a street. It was filmed inside a car and the setting seemed like a city neighborhood with people of all ages. Mendieta shot the people around her and their reactions to the blood. Many of them did not even look down at the sidewalk, others simply glanced and walked away while some people did doubletakes and one woman even poked her umbrella at it. Are these passerbyers asking the same questions I was in the films with blood on her body? Were they, too, wondering if what they were seeing is blood or red paint? Is the audience the same as the people still viewing her work today? Another video about her buried on the earth is part of her Silueta series. This series parallels her journeys to Mexico and the the Caribbean country of Cuba, where she was born. While most of her adulthood was spent in Iwoa, this series was her connection to the earth where she returned. This also has traces of indigenous beliefs of Caribbean culture where one is a part of their surroundings and spiritually attached to the land. Especially evident is the female
attachment as the mother earth, the woman’s womb and the caretaking.
While I have seen many still photographs of the films on display, Sweating Blood was one film that gave me an appreciation of her work that I had not seen before. For instance, in this film blood is seeping out of the top of her head, as if she is sweating blood. This slow, gradual process of blood coming out of her head is unlike anything I have seen and adds a new dimension into the amount of work she puts in. Finally, one black and white photograph titled Itiba Cahubaba (Esculturas Rupestres) is an example of the relationship that she has with the earth. While her work is often discussed as though she is an artist using photography, this photograph is an instance of her making something to be seen for years to come. This is reminiscent of a shell, something inherently of “Since Ms. Mendieta's death, her older sister, Raquelin Mendieta, has been the keeper of her legacy, and it was through her research that many of the new films came to light. In an interview this week from her home in Whittier, Calif., Ms. Mendieta, 69, who is also an artist, spoke about her sister's early love of film and about the effort to bring her work behind the camera back into the world.
Her sister said:
“That was part of her personality. Nothing that she did ever surprised me. She was
always very dramatic, even as a child and liked to push the envelope, to give people a
start, to shock them a little bit. It was who she was and she enjoyed it very much. And she
laughed about it sometimes when people got freaked out.”
Her sense of playfulness and mystery was a large part of her success and intrigue for
audiences. However, this was heightened after her death when she was only 36 years old. The
mystery behind this also added to her infamous status as an artist. Unfortunately, this ‘suicide’ of
her, though it has often been contested as murder by her artist husband Carl Andre, is similar to
so many other artists who have died young, especially like Francesca Woodman.
Works Cited
Kennedy, R. (2016, Feb 05). New work from ana mendieta, 30 years after her death.New York Times
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